


Spider Bites and Uncivil Liberties

by charleybradburies



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Battle, Civil War (Marvel), Civil War Fix-It, Clint Barton Feels, Clint Barton Made a Different Call, Clint Needs a Hug, Community: 1_million_words, Community: be_compromised, Community: fan_flashworks, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Fights, Friendship/Love, It's Hard and Nobody Understands, Kissing, Natasha Feels, Natasha Needs a Hug, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, POV Male Character, Politics, Spies & Secret Agents, Spoilers, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 07:57:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4738682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charleybradburies/pseuds/charleybradburies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strike Team Delta doesn't stand divided.</p>
<p>For Fan Flashworks Challenge #126: The End of the World & two prompts from the be_compromised Promptathon (listed below)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spider Bites and Uncivil Liberties

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stellarations (inparenthesis)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=stellarations+%28inparenthesis%29), [geckoholic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckoholic/gifts).



> be_compromised Prompts  
> a) civil war au in which they have to fight against each other (because they are supposedly on different sides?) and they stop halfway because they can't. aaand they make out   
> b) _spider bites on all your lovers_

Chaos. That’s what this is: utter _fucking_ chaos. 

It’s worse, worse than the Battle of New York, worse than Sokovia, worse than anything, any battle he’s ever seen. It’s been so long that they’ve been traveling and he’s gotten so little sleep he doesn’t remember what city this is, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s rubble. And even though he knows that almost all civilians got out before the band of demons also known as a team of supervillains got here yesterday, that doesn’t matter all that much either. 

Technically this fight was for a reason, a good one. Technically it made sense that some superheroes would be okay with registering and some wouldn’t. 

It no longer made sense that they’d decided it might be worth it to fight about it. 

So he isn’t sure what he’s doing here, because he’s shitty moral support, and he hasn’t lifted his bow in hours even though his hands hurt from holding it.

Freedom. Free will. Honor. Humanity. _Bullshit._

It was just chaos, and rubble, and blood. 

And damn-near-blood-red hair. 

She’s kicking someone off what used to be a rooftop and now is thirty feet from the ground, and he’s frozen in place, the sounds around him amplified by his hearing aid but not making anything any bit clearer.

Bang. Click. Bang. Click. Screech. Explosion. Shriek. Scream. Bang. Stilettos. Kick. Click. _Fuck._

She’s frozen, too, when she turns after spotting him in her peripheral vision, but only for a moment, and even when it’s over, it doesn’t matter what’s going on around them. She climbs down from the top of the collapsed building and before either of them actually cares to stop and think about what they’re doing, she’s run into his arms and he’s pulled her into a kiss. 

He doesn’t know what it looks like, obviously, but he’s pretty sure they’ve got the “reunited couple in an end-of-the-world movie” thing down. 

She shoves him inside what’s left of the collapsed building she’d been on the roof of, and they kneel down without breaking apart from each other...until she pulls away.

“God, no, we shouldn’t be.” 

“Nat-”

“No, really, Clint, I’m sorry, I -”

He’s about to try to stop her again - _okay, they’re on different sides, but they’re alone and he loves her and she’s alive and he doesn’t want to let go ever so why does she have to want him to_ \- when she stops herself.

“I can’t do this. I - we have to fight,” she starts to steel herself a moment later.

“We don’t _have_ to, Nat.”

“We’re not _together_ , Clint. We can’t just...pretend we can be.”

Clint sighs. _Well, that hurt._

“That’s what I’m fighting for, isn’t it? Some free goddamn will? I’d rather give that up than give up on you, Nat.”

She starts crying, but a smile peeks through.

“You’re mad. This is mad.”

“Yeah, but you love me, right? You run to kiss me on a battlefield, does that mean you still love me? 'Cause if you do, then I’m all good.”

“ _Liar_.”

“Nope, not today. Not on the agenda.”

“Clint, we’re - we were - Avengers. We’re supposed to be _heroes_. We can’t just get up and leave. This is a _war_ , enough of one that it’s being called one. A _Civil_ War,” comes her protestation, rife with heaviness, of course, even as it illuminates many of the issues at hand.

“Nothing _civil_ about it anymore, if you ask me.”

“Clint!” 

“Hey, I’m _not_ gonna fight you, Nat. If you feel like it’s your duty to fight, go, fight. But if you fight for Tony, don’t come looking for me. I’ll either die or I won’t, won’t know until it happens-”

“Clint!” she interrupts, and this time an actual tear comes down her cheek. He can’t help but be the one to wipe it away. 

“Clint, for God’s sake, _tell_ me what to do!”

“I’m telling you what to do, Natasha.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

They’ve been crouching close to each other, but now, it’s too close. It doesn’t even quite feel like her, near to him, she sounds so broken. So like the Natasha he hasn’t seen in so long. 

_“I’m a widow,” she’d hissed, with a heavier accent than she’d liked. “A **Black** Widow. **The** Black Widow. Do you know what a Black Widow is, Agent Barton? It's a spider, one that bites. **I** bite.”_

_“I’m not opposed to biting,” he’d smirked. “Find it kinda hot, actually.”_

_She’d scared the shit out of him back then, too._

Maybe he’s been tangled up in her since then. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe he just doesn’t give a shit. Maybe, now that he's holding her again, he'd let the world end before willingly letting go. 

Maybe.

“This is a violation of so many things, Clint,” she says, her voice soft and breath hot; she’s turned her head downwards, and the air is against his chest now. 

“I can’t just ask you to switch sides here, or switch sides myself as though we haven’t been divided.”

_Shit,_ she’s crying. _Actually_ crying. _Leaning into his shoulder_ crying. Letting him wrap his arms around her like comforting her is the only thing he wants to do with his life ever...crying.

“There has to be another way. Some way to work things out. We just have to _find_ it.”

He’s not sure why his voice sounds so confident, because he’s sure as hell not feeling it. Nat burrows closer into the crook of his shoulder. 

“But…” Clint says again once she’s stopped crying, before he thinks about it too much and can stop himself.

“Hmm?” she raises her head and glances up at him.

“Let me kiss you some more before we start looking.”

She smiles again, tears moving faster down her cheeks due to a laugh. 

"You say that as though you might have to convince me," she grins, with a patented Natasha grin, and then she's quick to prove he doesn't.


End file.
